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Morikawa Jouji
Morikawa Jouji (森川ジョージ or 森川 常次), often romanized as George Morikawa, is a mangaka affiliated with Kodansha. He was born January 17th, 1966 in Tokyo and is a graduate of Matsubushi High School (松伏高等学校, Matsubushi Koutou Gakkou) in Saitama Prefecture. He is the author of Weekly Shonen Magazine's flagship series Hajime no Ippo, which won him the 15th Kodansha Manga Award in 1991. He is also the owner of the boxing gym JB Sports Gym and occasionally acts as a second for some of his gym's boxers. His surname is Morikawa. History When Morikawa was 4 years old, he would watch the anime, Harris no Kaze (ハリスの旋風) by Chiba Tetsuya, and aspired to to become a mangaka. He would always get into fights during middle school and high school. On the other hand, he also served on the student council. When he was 17, Morikawa released his debut manga, Silhouette Night, while still in high school. He wanted to join Weekly Shonen Magazine because that was the magazine that Chiba Tetsuya was published in. His first published manga series in 1986 was a soccer series, Kazuya NOW, and then a Formula 1 ''series, Signal Blue, in 1987. Unfortunately, all of his serialized works were cancelled before completion, but the editing staff would always give him another chance. However, he had a wife and child and times were so hard for him. Morikawa decided if this next series fails he would give up being a mangaka. So for his final attempt, he decided to draw a manga about his favorite sport, Boxing. Started in 1989 and still in serialization as of 2018, Hajime no Ippo became a huge hit and has indeed become the flagship series of Weekly Shonen Magazine. GeorgeDrawingProcess.png|George making Volume 114's Cover... GeorgeFinishIppoVolume.png|...and panel being drawn with Volume 117 on it. Videos of Morikawa Drawing ライブドローイング 森川ジョージ【はじめの一歩】✖ あんど慶周【変態仮面】刈谷アニメCollection 2013 はじめの一歩 作者 森川ジョージ先生 サイン会 イラスト直筆中！ Work List of works *Silhouette Night - ( シルエットナイト) - 1983 *Kazuya NOW - (一矢NOW) - Two Volumes - 1986 *Signal Blue - ( シグナルブルー) - Two Volumes - 1987 *Hajime no Ippo - (はじめの一歩 ) - 122 Volumes (On going) - 1989 to 2018 *Hajime no Ippo Gaiden: Naniwa no Tora - ( はじめの一歩外伝 浪速の虎) - One Shot - 2008 (Included in Hajime No Ippo volume 84) *Ai ni Iku yo (I'll be seeing you!) - ( 会いにいくよ ) - One Volume - 2012 Ai ni Iku yo.jpg|Ai ni Iku yo Kazuya NOW volume 1.jpg|Kazuya NOW volume 1 Kazuya NOW.jpeg|Kazuya NOW Signal Blue volume 1.jpg|Signal Blue volume 1 Silhouette Night - 01.jpeg|Silhouette Night - 01 Silhouette Night - 02.jpeg|Silhouette Night 'Other Related People' 'Mangaka that Morikawa worked for as an Assistant''' *'Shigeno Shuuichi' - (しげの 秀一) - Mangaka known for Initial D (頭文字D) and Baribari Densetsu (バリバリ伝説). The series that Morikawa worked on with Shigeno was Baribari Densetsu. Ralph_Anderson_in_Baribari_Densetsu.png|Character Ralph Anderson in Baribari Densetsu like in this George's series. Baribari Densetsu - Ralph Anderson.jpg|Baribari Densetsu Cover with Ralph Anderson on it *'Mafune Kazuo '- (真船一雄) - Mangaka known for Super Doctor K ( 슈퍼 닥터 K). *'Tatsuya Hiruta' - (蛭田達也) - Mangaka known for Kōtarō Makaritōru! (コータローまかりとおる!) series. Note: In an interview, Morikawa mentions he occasionally helped other mangaka when he was starting out from time to time like with Mafune Kazuo and Tatsuya Hiruta. 'Past Assistants of Morikawa' *Kentaro Miura - (三-浦 建太郎) - Mangaka of Berserk ( 베르세르크). He was once an assistant to Morikawa. When Hajime No Ippo reached Round 1000, he sent a drawing of Takamura as a Tribute. *'Masahito Soda' - (曽田正人) - Mangaka of Capeta ( カペタ ). He filled in as an assistant for a few times when he was starting out. When Hajime No Ippo reached Round 1000, he sent a drawing of Ippo and Kumi as a Tribute. *'Nishimoto Hideo' - (西本 英雄) - Mangaka known for Mou, Shimasen kara '''( もう、しませんから). Morikawa is known to appear as a character in '''Mou, Shimasen kara, where he is portrayed as a bully like Takamura. In volume 108, there is a chapter of Mou, Shinasen kara included as part of the volume extra. Hideo been friends with Morikawa for over 20 years. He's even took part in a baseball game that Morikawa see up. (Photo in volume 56.) *'Saki Kaori' - ( 咲香里 ) - Mangaka known for Smash! ( スマッシュ! ). She was an assist for Morikawa for about 2 years. She has also appeared as a character in Mou, Shimasen kara. Adachi Mitsuru - Round 1000.png|Adachi Mitsuru - Round 1000 Akimoto Osamu - Round 1000.png|Akimoto Osamu - Round 1000 Aoyama Gosho - Round 1000.png|Aoyama Gosho - Round 1000 Chiba Tetsuya - Round 1000.png|Chiba Tetsuya - Round 1000 Itagaki Keisuke - Round 1000.png|Itagaki Keisuke - Round 1000 Kobayashi Makoto - Round 1000.png|Kobayashi Makoto - Round 1000 Miura Kentarou - Round 1000.png|Miura Kentarou - Round 1000 Mizushima Shinji - Round 1000.png|Mizushima Shinji - Round 1000 Nagayasu Takumi - Round 1000.png|Nagayasu Takumi - Round 1000 Shigeno Shunichi - Round 1000.png|Shigeno Shunichi - Round 1000 Soda Masahito - Round 1000.png|Soda Masahito - Round 1000 Takahashi Rumiko - Round 1000.png|Takahashi Rumiko - Round 1000 Takehiko Inoue - Round 1000.png|Takehiko Inoue - Round 1000 Yaguchi Takao - Round 1000.png|Yaguchi Takao - Round 1000 'Boxers' *'Fukushima Manabu '- ( 福島学 ) - Former Pro Boxer that debut out of JB Sports Gym. In 2002, he had lost a WBC title match against Oscar Larios in which Morikawa helped worked as a 2nd in. Later on, Fukushima became OPBF champion for Super Bantamweight. *'Takahashi Naoto' - ( 高橋ナオト ) - Former Pro Boxer, that helped run JB Sports Gym for Morikawa. His nickname was "Prince of the Reversal." Miyata was partially modeled after him. His rematch (Naoto Takahashi vs Noree Jockygym) was the undercard for Mike Tyson vs Buster Douglas in Tokyo that Morikawa known to attend. *'Raika Emiko' - ( 来家 恵美子 ) - Female Pro Boxer that Morikawa drew a Fight Poster for. *'Ryōta Murata' - ( 村田 諒太 ) - Former WBA Middleweight World Champion and Olympic Gold 2012 medalist. Morikawa has drawn several posters for the Ryōta Murata vs Rob Brant World title fight (on Oct 21 2018), which Ryota lost. Raika Emiko.jpg|Raika Emiko Poster naota.jpg|Takahashi Naoto's Book Cover Manabu Fukushima Poster.jpg|Manabu Fukushima Poster Poster-manabu.gif|Manabu Fukushima World Title Poster Murata.jpg|Ryōta Murata Ryōta Murata vs Rob Brant .jpg|Ryōta Murata vs Rob Brant Interviews with Morikawa *Mangaka Seo Koji (Hitman) interviews Morikawa with his first Editor (2018/06/13): #Part 1 #Part 2 *Interview with Morikawa that appeared in Shonen Magazine (2018/04/01) *Interview with Morikawa about starting out *How to be a Manga Artist (2016/08/25) : #Part 1 #Part 2 #Part 3 #Part 4 *Morikawa talks about Hajime No Ippo: Rising (2014): #Part 1 #Part 2 #Part 3 Morikawa with Ryōta Murata.jpg|Morikawa with Ryōta Murata Morikawa with Anime Voice Cast in 2003.jpg|Morikawa with Anime Voice Cast in 2003 Morikawa as a 2nd.jpg|Morikawa as a 2nd Morikawa-office.png|Morikawa in his Office Morikawa 2016.jpeg|Morikawa 2016 morikawa 2018.jpeg|Morikawa 2018 Morikawa with Nonito Donaire.jpg|Morikawa with Nonito Donaire Morikawa with New Challenger Cast.jpg|Morikawa with New Challenger Cast Trivia *Morikawa was a second before he started the serialization of the series Hajime no Ippo. *Morikawa enjoys fishing, which is more than likey why Ippo's family runs a fishing boat rental. *Morikawa is listed in the Guinness Book of World records for taking part for World largest Greeting card during the Fukushima Revival Festival. Video about it. *Morikawa has designed thecharacters for his high school. *'Nishimoto Hideo', author of Weekly Shonen Magazine's Mou, Shimasen kara., often draws Morikawa in his manga as a bully character. In return, Morikawa drew the cover art for volume 4 of the collected series. *Morikawa has drawn a few tribute to honor other manga series. So far, they include: Tobaku Mokushiroku Kaiji - by Nobuyuki Fukumoto - 500th Chapter; The Heroic Legend of Arslan - by Yoshiki Tanaka, Fairy Tail - 10th Anniversary - by Hiro Mashima, Fairy Tail - Hiro Mashima, and UQ Holder - by Ken Akamatsu (Negima! Magister Negi Magi). He also did stuff for Itagaki Keisuke (Grappler Baki) when it reach 20 and 25 year mark, and Akimoto Osamu (KochiKame) *A Special "documentary" between the boxing manga series and the boxers in real life has been released. Including the famous mangaka of Ashita no Joe, Tetsuya Chiba, other remarkable names of professional boxers as the super flyweight WBO Champion Naoya Inoue, middleweight WBA Champion Ryōta Murata, Former super featherweight WBA Champion Takashi Uchiyama as well as the veteran WBA Champ Yoko Gushiken, make their apparition in the Hajime no Ippo Sports x Manga Special. External links *Morikawa's Official Twitter *Japanese Wiki JB Sports Related link *JB Sports - Official Site *JB Sports - Older site *Facebook fr:George Morikawa Category:Hajime no Ippo Category:Real people